This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
A Walk in the Woods – We Hate Goldman
Not too far from me is a park area called Teatown. It is about 850 acres
and has 15 miles of trails through forests and lakes. Most of the land
and a good chunk of the budget is donated by local supporters. During
the summer there are busloads of kids from the city that come to enjoy a
day in the woods. I go there once in a while to burn off some stress
and enjoy being alone in nature. I did that yesterday afternoon. I chose
a trail I have not been on in some years. Aptly called:
Parts of the trail are well traveled.
Other parts not.
Along the way you see the improvements that some individuals have made. For example, this walkway over a wetland.
A Mr. Oldenberg made this possible back in 1990.
A number of others who have appreciated this spot have made similar contributions.
On my walk I came to this “busy” intersection.
You can imagine (if you know me) my anger, shock and disappointment to see this at the trail juncture:
Apparently three years ago the nice folks at Goldie wrote a tax
deductable check and had some help bring in some wood chips for this
trail. Now they get a plaque with their name on it that will last
forever. Whatever improvements GS made back then have been washed away
from three hard winters. But Goldie still has their advertisement right
in the middle of the woods.
I was looking at this and taking a picture when a teenage couple came up
the path. I guessed that they were not this deep in the woods for
“sylvan” pleasures. I pointed to the sign and asked:
BK: Do you know who Goldman Sachs is?
BOY: They’re the ones who stole the money in the stock market.
GIRL: My father says it’s the Wall Street that caused the depression.
BK: That sounds about right.
BOY: Should we rip it out?
BK: No. Let’s leave it. Everyone who walks by this spot will be reminded of how much we don’t like these guys.
BOY: Okay. Which way you going?
I pointed left. They went right.
I have said many times that you can’t do GOOD and at the same time do WELL
on Wall Street. GS and its partners are doing very WELL. They attempt
to do some GOOD things in an effort to create a softer image and create a
tax deduction. It will not work. Teenagers and old cynics like me see
through it.
GS should take down the sign in the woods. It is having the exact
opposite reaction to what they intended. It reminds us that we don’t
like them. We know they are predators. And we know that predators, like
wolves, have a place in this world. But we don’t want these wolves in
our backyard.
If the deep thinkers at GS read this I hope they get the message. You’re
best advised to keep a low profile. Don’t rile us more. Keep you’re “We’re good guys” signs out of our sight. We know that is just crap.
Excuse the personal rant.
bk
»
- advertisements -
HeelSsale.com is a one-stop shop that offers Manolo Blahnik ,including boots,High Heel Shoes, mules, platform shoes, pumps and sandals. With this wide range of products we are sure that you will be able to find some sexy Discount Manolo Blahnik Meanwhile, Andrew christian louboutin pumps Grossman is whining that strippers are accomplishing Jimmy Choo Shoes institution inside the shadows from the hallowed soil Zero,christian louboutin boots so why cannot Muslims develop there 13 account In-your-Infidel-faces Yves Saint Laurent Victory Mosque there, too? I saw yesterday at Memeorandum that ny Christian Louboutin Slingbacks structure employees are declaring that once the Discount Chanel Shoes Victory Mosque at soil Zero goes ahead, that they’ll refuse to develop it. high heel sandals high heel boots Womens high heel shoes high heel pumps high heel work boots high heel meeting place NFL Jersey |NFL Jersey Discount Nfl Jerseys |Discount Nfl Jerseys
Christian Louboutin Shoes. . Exceptionally comfortable, I nonetheless felt barefooted Christian Louboutin Classic Collection , Christian Louboutin Fashion Collection shoes but using the assurance of the lone to shield my ft from sharp sticks ,Christian Louboutin Mary Janes Christian Louboutin Specials Christian Louboutin SandalsI rocks, glass, and scalding warm pavement. christian louboutin tall boots, Christian louboutin short boots Christian Louboutin BootsI loved them the 1st time I positioned them on my feet,,
Links
Men MBT Sandals , discount MBT Sandals mbt sandals, cheap mbt sandals , mbt sandals shoes,,chung shi sandals, MBT Sandals mbt sandals reviews,Discount MBT Shoes mbt sandals on sale with free shipping. Clothing and Accessories - Free Shipping BOTH ways. Mbt shoes is the first physiological footwear that has a positive effect on the whole body. Vikings Jersey-Minnesota Vikings Jersey If you've been looking for purple or white Chicago Bears Jersey ,we've done that for you.Carolina Panthers Jersey You can find any Vikings player's jersey you want. Welcome to jerseys-shopping nfl jerseys store. New York Giants JerseyAs the world-leading NFL Jerseys store, we supply more than 700 high-quality merchandise discount NFL Jersey of NFL. Our website is revising, green bay packers Jersey">New York Giants Jersey I hope everyone can enjoy this layout. At the same time, we will keep on working hard for everyone to provide a better shopping experience. Discount UGG Boots
mbt shoes in metrotown burnaby bc canada mbt-hoes-discontinued Christian Louboutin fake huangxin. mbtwomensshoes jerseyssale huangxin discountmbtshoes mbt-white-sport-shoes bugoumai Christian Louboutin Boots Mbt Vs Chung Shi Shoes Christian Louboutin High Heels wholesale scarves Mbt Shoes Review Red high heel christian louboutin discount shoes Cheap Ralph Lauren Polo shirts Christian Louboutin black wholesale womens shoes Authentic Nfl Jerseys Louboutin Shoes Bridal Gowns Christian Louboutin Boots Girls High Heels nike air jordans 23 High heel boots links of london High Heels and stockings Wholesale Christian Louboutin Cheap MBT Shoes On Sale China Bags Wholesale http://bugoumai520.globalstudent.org.au/ http://bugoumai.blogguza.com/ http://bugoumai212.bloghitz.com/ http://2chirp.info/pointingtrade1/ http://2chirp.info/bugoumai/ http://pointing.default.name/ http://bugoumai.interneteclub.com/ http://bugoumai.coverblog.de/ http://pointingtrade.bcz.com/ http://yovia.com/blogs/bugoumai/ http://bugoumai.maxblog.com/ http://bugoumai.j-talk.com/ http://bugoumai.solobis.net/ http://bugoumai.wloger.com/ http://gogo500go.noxblog.com/ http://bugoumai.publiku.com/ http://gorillacd.org/blog/ http://www.dailychallenge.org/dogooders/lee_bugoumai520/3582/ http://pen2net.com/blogs http://bugoumai520.bloggcity.se/ http://www.ortane.com/index.php http://bugoumai520.lise1234.com/ http://bugoumai520.bloghitz.com/ http://bugoumai520.bloxio.us/wp-admin/ http://mymelee.com/bugoumai888/ http://bugoumai520.theobloggers.com/ http://bugoumai520.bloglevel.com/ http://bugoumai520.xpertsociety.com/ http://yourideiride.com/bugoumai520 http://bugoumai520.bellonio.com/ http://bugoumai520.ajatukseni.net http://bugoumai520.blogr.lt/ http://bugoumai520.bloxi.jp/ http://blogs.ballyfermot.ie/bugoumai520/ http://bugoumai520.green-vibes.net High Heel Shoes Mbt shoes Christian Louboutin Discount UGG Boots Discount NFL Jersey Discount Mbt Shoes Discount NBA jerseys Discount Shoes Online Louboutin Shoes Knock Offs Discount Womens Shoes Louboutin Discount Louboutin Shoes Oakley Sunglass Discount Nike Running Shoes MBT BOOTS Discount Gucci Sunglasses Do MBT Shoes Really Work Louboutin Shoes Discontinued Mbt Shoes louboutin shoes knock offs Ethnic Bracelets cheap new balance shoes GHD Hair Straighteners Tiffany jewelry on sale Discount UGG Classic Tall Boot http://bugoumai520.cafeteria.pl http://bugoumai520.blogguza.com http://bugoumai520.blogcenter.de http://bugoumai520.irieblogs.com/ http://bugoumai520.blogrepublik.ro/ http://bugoumai520.gruponercell.com Cheap Gucci Shoes The anti-shoe are On Sale Best Prices Mbt Shoes Cheap Gucci Shoes 7 Inch High Heel Shoes MBT Shoes Retailer 10 inch high heels Official Ugg Boots Cheap Wholesale Shoes
according to you they [Goldman] basically run the whole world, and certainly the most powerful nation, so, yes, i'd call that brilliant, far beyond brilliant actually, if true -- VWbug
The Goldmans would have been smart unemployed people now if it hadn’t been for taxpayer bailouts these many years. I think Goldman’s big attribute is a lack of morality. It takes a special kind of people to sell out their country and countrymen just so they can have a pleasure estate on a world plantation that they rule with a whip. These are people without conscience. And there are people without conscience who can do this—such as Goldman’s bailout man in the US Treasury, Hank Paulson. And then stand up and lie about it, and write a book.
While the big banks are clawing their way back to the 41 percent of all domestic corporate earnings they achieved this past decade on the backs of the little guys, the small business sector in this country is scared to death—not only by the economy but the Dems’ new legislation coming down the road. Even some Democrats are saying -- just before election time of course -- that the tax cuts need to be extended. Why? Because, ironically, the politicians are now afraid of losing their jobs. The Democrat National Committee even has decided to separate out the Dems they think can be elected this November from those they think can’t, and help only the former…
In short, the current system, birthed by a cartel of international financiers in 1913 in secret by the Rothschilds and Warburgs and Rockefellers on Jekyll Island to protect its members from competition, with worldwide control in mind, doesn’t work any more—even for the oligarchs. Their American host is dead. And one of the insider shareholders of that Federal Reserve System is Goldman Sachs.
People who can’t pay taxes, won’t pay. And they won’t work for nothing. Goldman’s system is crashing… and burning.
Add another plaque below it....
"The woodchips washed away.
The plaque stayed.
Go figure."
temp
on the right track, but first you must slay the dragon of "world trade is good".
There is no such animal as "free trade throughout the world". And American politicians had better get on with the necessary nut-cutting before the electorate carves them up.
Managed Trade, for all its limitations, is far better than "pretend" free trade.
so you're going to start putting duties and restrictions on all kinds of trade now?
And you think that others won't retaliate?
What colour is the moon in your world?
Check your reserve tank- your 59 bug is about to stall.
Retaliation would be great. No more full containers coming in and empty containers going out.
The threat of "retaliation" against the largest consumer market on earth is an empty threat.
So when you are out there barking at the moon, put that big brain of yours in gear.
you should take an econ 101 course, they teach something called comparative advantage.
might be hard for you to grasp, but give it a try.
I can hardly believe you haven't thought this through even step 1...
I mean, if the US stops imports, what possible importance is it to be the largest consumer?
If china can't sell to the US, why on earth would they buy boeings instead of airbuses?
jesus you're thick, lol
I've taken a little more than an econ 101 class, while you were taking ignorance 101.
Comparative advantage requires free markets among honest trading nations. Once you can identify such a market, let the rest of ZH in on your rarest of discoveries.
And you can stick you weak theories back in your small container- look at the empirical evidence.
I would challenge you to a duel of wits, but I refuse to fight an unarmed man/woman/it.
Until 2008 the about 64% of the population was employed. Now its 58% and declining. The internet allowed for massive outsourcing of jobs. From 2000 to 2007 the decline in jobs was hidden by the ramp up in housing. Now everything is exposed as China/India exported their unemployment problems to the US. We must increase the % of the population working back above 60%. Higher taxes will not work. Lower spending is not likely w/o civil disorder. The only answer is to mandate higher domestic content of US consumption. This will increase tensions with China/India as we export our unemployment. Goldman is just a vehicle for US policy not the cause of the policy.
I posted this same quote in the comment section of the Cheney article. I suggest everyone keep it in mind going forward, whether the discussion is about Wall Street, the fourth branch of government, or the other three. They are all evil. None will go to jail. If you haven't already, start now to get out of the way of the hell their evil deeds have unleashed.
"I have spent a good deal of time working in prisons with designated criminals. Almost never have I experienced them as evil people. Obviously they are destructive, and usually repetitively so. But there is a kind of randomness to their destructiveness. Moreover, although to the authorities they generally deny responsibility for their evil deeds, there is still a quality of openness to their wickedness. They themselves are quick to point this out, claiming that they have been caught precisely because they are the “honest criminals.” The truly evil, they will tell you, always reside outside of jail. Clearly these proclamations are self-justifying. They are also, I believe, generally accurate."
M. Scott Peck, People of the Lie
Flat screwdriver Bruce. Lets just see how mad you can get!
Predators, Bitchez!
Avoid the woods, 'nature', and outdoors where the wild things live.
There are deer ticks to give you lyme's disease, vampire mosquitoes that suck you dry, tree snakes that trip you, you fall down on a rock. In some areas the indigenous inhabitants, like black bears, consider you dinner or worse an interloper on their territory.
We evolved out of the woods and jungles to live comfortably in man caves.
Yes, but we replaced short term physical stress with permanent mental stress by doing so...but just for the record, never been tripped by a tree snake or ever heard of anyone being eaten by a black bear...I think there is one recorded incident of a black bear killing someone. Brown bear a completely different story...
the stock market was origionally founded on theft. I learned this in nyc. gs is following the tradition.
http://covert2.wordpress.com
The state was founded on theft, "Wall Street" being but the natural outgrowth of its fascistic core:
"There are two fundamentally opposed means whereby man, requiring sustenance, is impelled to obtain the necessary means for satisfying his desires. These are work and robbery, one's own labor and the forcible appropriation of the labor of others . . . [such that we] call one's own labor and the equivalent exchange of one's own labor for the labor of others, the "economic means" for the satisfaction of needs, while the unrequited appropriation of the labor of others [we call] the "political means.” … The state is an organization of the political means. No state, therefore, can come into being until the economic means has created a definite number of objects for the satisfaction of needs, which objects may be taken away or appropriated by warlike robbery."
Franz Oppenheimer, The State -- http://www.franz-oppenheimer.de/state1.htm
Fuck the piece of shit predatory bankers! The world does not need them.
Goldman never gives away anything without getting even more in return. In addition to tax credits, I wouldn’t be surprised if they managed to get some carbon credits for their forest enhancement efforts too, which they then sold to a utility company for a profit. Why not, they did it with an entire rain forest in Uruguay.
Then it wasn't given away, was it? I believe that even "good will" is depreciable on their tax returns.
no lover of maObama, but remember the uproar when he cut tax breaks for gifts to non-profits/charities... i thought that was interesting at the time, and very relevant to this sort of corporate gifting.
You're on a tear, eh? What's with the Obama thing? I voted for Ron Paul.
Couldn't quite get the gist of your comment. Punctuation and stuff would have helped.
My point was that GS doesn't do anything without recongition or ROI.
yo, didn't mean to imply *any* such relationship to obamao. (i'm core libertarian-leaning as well. Dr. Paul rox).
my response was in complete agreement with yours, but more general.
when bho pushed legislation to take away the tax breaks for giving to charity, it sort of separated those that really give-to-give, from those who give-to-get. real charity is just that. anonymity is pretty good proof that some really do give just to give.
clearly, GS doesn't qualify...
love your contributions in here, btw.
Tyranny is the exercise of power, not intelligence. Don’t let a “Goldman Community TeamWorks” sign throw you off the track.
When you link the facts together, they show that an insider dealing power already exists under a single authority in the US. Fact one: the New York Federal Reserve Bank is now controlled by Goldman Sachs; the NYFed in turn controls the Federal Reserve System which controls the IMF and dominates the world’s central banks. Fact two: no one is nominated for the US presidency without the approval of one specific bank – Goldman Sachs. Fact three: it is obvious that US presidents now select only Goldman Sachs people or Sachs’ approved people for the Treasury and for critical Cabinet and monetary posts.
When Bernanke or Geithner have to make big decisions, records show they call Goldman Sachs (as Volcker and others called the City of London).
The president of the World Bank, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is run by Goldman Sachs.
The Secretary of the US Treasury is an extension of Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs has been involved in scandal since the 1930s but always, somehow, comes out unscathed. The major beneficiary of the AIG bailout (a bailout directed by GS) and the Mexican bailout, orchestrated by U.S. treasurer Robert Rubin in opposition to Congress, and the bailouts of other nations, was Goldman Sachs.
The career of Robert Rubin is instructive. For example, Pat Buchanan points out, “As lead pony at Goldman Sachs, he led that investment bank into plunging billions into Mexican bonds. As head of the White House Economic Security Council, he failed to see the Mexican default barreling up the tracks. But as treasury secretary, he was able to shovel billions of U.S. dollars down Mexico way, thus saving the Goldman Sachs investments.” (http://www.theamericancause.org/patbailingout.htm)
It was primarily Rubin and Larry Summers, i.e,, Goldman Sachs with the help of the Fed and US Congress and Executive branch, that orchestrated the current global financial meltdown and then benefited from it.
It was Goldman Sachs that primarily benefited from a Larry Summer’s/Harvard rip off of Russia , related in a special, "U.S. Taxpayers' Backed IMF Loans Go Into Pockets Of Clinton Cronies," to The Wanderer in 2001 when the House Banking Committee Sept. 21st-22nd was investigating Russian money-laundering through U.S. banks “where billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are transferred to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and then filtered through a small number of well-placed people - only a few dozen, in Russia, New York, Washington, and Boston - who launder the money into private accounts on Wall Street and into the coffers of some of the world's major banks.”
A host of witnesses "told how U.S. foreign aid policy in Russia was responsible for bankrupting the nation, facilitating the greatest plunder of the country's natural and artistic wealth since Lenin and creating a ruthless class of gangster billionaires" and "how then Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, chief economist at the World Bank in 1990, passed the Russian 'cookie plate to Goldman Sachs,' and how Harvard economists created the new Russian kleptocracy…"
http://www.apfn.org/APFN/taxpayer.htm
And now, Greece, Latvia, Hungary, Spain, Portugal…
How many foreign countries are Goldman Sachs and the fianancial oligarchs ripping off through the IMF and World Bank? The fact that Wolfowitz could be appointed to the World Bank with his background connection to the Department of Defense and Project for the New American Century (PNAC) makes it ludicrous to think Rumsfeld was in charge of anything at the Department of Defense. And who now sits in Wolfowitz’s chair at the World Bank? Why Goldmanite Robert Zoellick, a signatore to the PNAC’s letter to Clinton to take out “Saddam’s regime” in Iraq.
All this -- and it is only the tip of the documented Goldman Iceberg -- is because Goldman people are the most brilliant in the industry, right? Leo?
according to you they basically run the whole world, and certainly the most powerful nation, so, yes, i'd call that brilliant, far beyond brilliant actually, if true.
Sadly, it is spectacularly true.
Stalin was not only powerful, some would say brilliant, but not many Stalin admirers are left. And few doubt the damage he inflicted.
ohhh so now the analogy is accepting government bailouts is equivalent to murdering 20 million people...
so since virtually all farmers, fishermen, miners, auto workers etc. accept gov't handouts year after year (unlike the 1 time GS deal, just sayin'), guess they are all comparable to stalin huh?
Big Brained Bug
I think you missed the analogy. It is- enjoy the ride to the top, the fall isn't quite so nice. Even for a 4 banger sadly in need of a tune up.
JR- I can see why you refuse the chase the squirming bug game.
So Punch Buggy
The "1 time GS deal". Huh, what ??? What exactly are you- the bronze plaque maker. Another squeaky Goldman apologist in ill-fitting shoes ???
Goldman is the largest Welfare Bum in the banking business. Without the Fed and the Treasury giving them their daily blood transfusion they would wrinkle up and dry (die) like leather in the sunshine.
Goldman is the financial equivalent of Capone, with bought-and-paid-for politicians everywhere. Yes, they are not alone, but they certainly are the most brazen.
Now, rev up that four-banger brain of yours and find another criminal to apologize for.
Fact is, it'd be helpful to get some league table results across product lines to do some comparisons. The tables get printed in places like Institutional Investor, etc. When I left the Street in 2005, Morgan Stanley was THE bank and on ZH they don't get a second thought. Not to take away from GS's obvious well connected place in DC, but it might be good to get some facts as well.
vdub,
maybe you're using extremes to make your point, but it's very clear that you want to defend GS as being "simply successful capitalists" and the ZH skeptics as jealous populists. the implication that anyone taking government handouts is as bad as stalin is ludicrous and i think you know better. when those fishermen and their friends are all on the NYFR board, maybe your point will carry.
i'm with bruce on this one. it has little or nothing to do with capitalism vs jealous populism, it's really about integrity vs opportunism, and clearly these GS-like guys have many opportunities to fleece the naive.
i met a guy who thought it was OK to steal a camera from the front seat of an unlocked car "because anyone dumb enough to leave it there deserves to have it stolen". i'd say this accounts for most of today's wall street (since 1913?), and especially GS/JPM.
stealing from the naive is still stealing - and anyone who still has a weekly auto-deposited 401k contribution plan is naive.
and sorry, but "just because someone else will do it if i don't" does *not* give me permission to act that way. wrong is wrong, regardless the letterhead or headcount of the wrong-doers.
that said, i will continue to assume that GS is going after my assets (with no remorse), and i will act/invest accordingly, and i will resent them and their paid-off ineffective regulators, accordingly.
i just replied to rocky above about this, might help clear up my POV.
Yeah, i'm being a bit of the devil's advocate, as i think the real motivation of the GS haters has nothing to do with the bailout, I mean, why not rant about GM and Chrysler?
I think some GS employees should probably be coughing up all their personal wealth in fines, but i don't know which ones.
Others I imagine do great work and get well paid for it, as clearly all GS clients have not abandoned them.
If GS were really that bad, their clients would have abandoned them, right? As I am sure some have.
It really is to me just like believing all blacks are drug dealers, just because some are.
As for GS stealing from or cheating the average joe, i don't even know if they have retail clients? If so I would hope some kind of legal recourse or ombudsman should be able to help.
But I think the vast majority of their clients must be big institutional investors, and if GS gets the better of the deal, well, I blame the investor, they should do their homework better.
And then we can talk about the role of the rating agencies, securities regulators etc....the blame goes waaaay beyong GS.
So why is GS the target?
Scratch the surface of that question and i bet you find a lot of racism.
Baby bug
The first defense of an intellectual coward is to pull the race card. So answer this-of what religious persuasion is/was Hank Paulson when he was enlisted to put a gun to the American publics head to do the $700 billion daylight robbery ? Are you saying Hank was secretly a practicing Jew ??
I couldn't give a fig whether Goldman was atheist or theist. Criminals are criminals regardless of the religious tent they cower under.
Scratch the surface of a lightweight and you will always find a lightweight.
i think the size and effective power of some of these institutions is creating greater angst than race. (witness the historic resentment of GS/GE/Google/MS/etc, oddly Apple has shirked this resentment to date.)
that said, race is a convenient cop-out for those that want to hate their target for one reason or another.
most folks resent the behavior, not the race, but the race element is tangible, and many times the race and the culture are bound tightly enough to somehow warrant the natural result. notice that while race and beliefs are most often bound, go to a hardcore euro soccer game and notice that the same angst is palpable based on racially-diverse fans' shirt and face-paint colors.
yes, this does go waaaay beyond GS, but they (GS) are at the top and they are the iconic representation of 'all that is wrong' with ... etc.
such is the price of success, but retail investor or not, everything they do has an effect on us little folk, and much of what they do 'is simply business' - which is seldom related to fairness or compassion. if there weren't a GS, there would be someone else in their place, but they would be resented as well.
just because one has the power doesn't mean you have to use it... sadly, the GS's abuses make the best excuse for socialism, which is simply transferring the power to another abusive group. both are extreme, but i guess we can only comprehend things in that sort of framework. bah humanity.
it isn't black and white, but on the 'from the gut' level, the world could do just fine without the various GS's and their ilk. and while that's not likely to happen soon, we can at least wish they would just go away, at least in our forest trails. that's what *i* hear bruce saying. GS is just a popular symptom.
yup you are exactly right about that i.k, I was thinking about that, and trust me it won't be long before apple too becomes hated.
The antennagate thing was just a little appetizer...
You know how i see these GS bashers? They're the same assholes smashing McDonald's or Starbucks windows, for no reason whatsoever, other than they don't like big (i.e. successful) american companies.
I also agree that some of these wall street (and main street) CEO's have caused more damage to capitalism than even george bush did, but i'm still optimistic that from this mess some good will come, and some lessons will be learned.
i don't hate 'big', but 'big' makes me very nervous.
i thought google rocked until they got big enough to get cozy w/ the NSA, etc. bummer on that one.
in a world where we prize our individuality, places like McD's, Starbucks, Apple, etc. remind us that we're more alike/predictable than we are unique. probably why we sour on them as we do.
i would assert that with such size comes power, and with that power should come responsibility and restraint. in some cases there are many quiet companies that succeed in profits and succeed in their community/contexts. like happy marriages, these folks don't attract much attention...
most of the "other sort" of corporations, big finance, and both political parties, are clearly not playing for the long-term betterment of humanity. and the lame excuse is "short-term for shareholders".
GS is one of the biggest. and they are not suddenly 'good' because they got some advertising for a few truckloads of wood-chips. even if they 'play by the rules', they are more evil than you want to believe. GE, same game.
sometimes populism has some basis in fact... like you, i hope lessons will be learned. i hope.
You are in awe of GS? What do you think actually? Me, I'm sorta agnostic on the whole deal. I'm not a believer in Karma and all that but I do believe that sooner or later the bad guys will be taken down. If they are "bad" then they'll come down. It all works out in the end. I don't feel the need to support nor defend them -- or bad-mouth those who do. Blood sport is just as bad as market manipulation. Cock-fighting for rich people.
I think their employee handbook ought to be posted online in pdf form and all 1st born sons and all daughters of said employees methodically hunted down and shot dead. Allow the midget c u n t s to live and recite their kol nidres through gnashed, inbred teeth in new pales.
it's not that simple, i don't really look at GS as a whole, i see some very smart guys making a lot of money and i don't begrudge them that.
I do think they should never have been offered a bailout, nor anyone else for that matter, and the idea that they took that money and paid themselves bonuses is pretty revolting.
I'm just playing the devil's advocate a little here on this this topic, as it's clear to me the whole hate GS thing just hides the real sentiment, which is hatred of success and of capitalism (and probably of jews, which is the most sickening of all).
I do believe in 'natural justice' for sure, what goes around comes around. I'm an atheist, but you still can't beat reality.
Thanks for the reply. I can see taking an opposing stance in the situation at hand. A bit of a contrarian commentary can develop the theme. Honest labor has always been revered in the U. S. but it has been documented often that the GS folks have stepped over the line and been rewarded for it. Outrage is expected when they are not called on it. The bigotry and racism seems to be comparable to the situation Obama finds himself in as well! It manifests itself in ways like the birther thing. Being born, raised, and currently living in the South I see a lot of that here. I don't really get the Jewish thing since my heritage is not intertwined with any of that. My maternal family are Kellys, and Catholic; my paternal side is Southern Baptist! I, too am atheist. Not being of any religious or cultural zealotry nor persuasion, that doesn't leave much like our liberal sodomy friend to rag on. That must be exasperating for a bigot not to have an epithet to apply.
i'm no psychologist, but seems to me the whole envy/jealousy/racist thing is a result of low self esteem and lack of confidence.
it's pretty clear that a lot of the dislike for obama is based on race. Personally, I think he's sincere, which is rare for a politician, but he's way out of his depth, and he's a pragmatist, which is a very bad thing to be, especially in times of a crisis.
i hope america hasn't fallen so far that the racist rants here are representative...I don't think so (or obama would never have been elected)
as for me, i was also raised catholic, but have been an atheist as long as i can remember, much to my parents' chagrin.
i'm just a born contrarian i guess : )
Where do you think they got the Money for that Trail? Everyone's 401K and Retirement funds. They make so much from taking our Money that they have to give it away to avoid paying taxes.
Actually, GS sent a couple of guys over to my poor retired mother's house and took it from her purse. She ate dog food for 3 weeks, until her next pension check arrived, but she agrees that the plaque really looks nice out there in the woods. Although it IS a pity that they didn't also mention her name on there, since it was her purse and all.
It would be nice if a group of people could replace the Goldman $$, send it back to them and rip that fucking sign down.
Hate
two suggestions for appropriate dealing with sign. It should remain but have some sort of permanent scar noting our collective disgust with them, permenantly. Or perhaps you should video record and upload on youtube this: you getting some soldiers with an tank to help you pull it down, and then pound it vehemently with the bottom of your shoe, and then perhaps, the country will rally around a war against these tyrants.
p.s.
any money given to GS abslutely PALES in comparison to the hundreds of billions doled out to rich farmers every year, where's the rant about that?
it's all jealousy and envy boys, and clear as day to all but yourselves.
Sorry but I disagree. "Rich farmers" is one of those catchphrases designed to divide and conquer the masses, just like "welfare queen." At least most farmers produce something as opposed to financial terrorists who produce NOTHING.
it's takes a pretty small brain to not understand that productive work comes not only from pure manual labour.
the market, if left alone, decides what has value and what doesn't.
Guess where manual labour is valued and where cerebral work is valued?
VWbug
its best that you pull over and rest that big brain of yours before you take a run at the next intellectual hill. And don't forget to push on the clutch before engaging the tranny.
I don't know anyone on ZH that advocates subsidizing "rich farmers". All countries subsidize their food supply. The U.S. is front and center on that one.
And you have obviously not been down on the farm for 5 or 6 decades or you would realize manual labor is the exception, not the rule.
And next time you see a "free" market let the rest of us know. Every financial market is manipulated by cartels and computers.
Free markets in paper of any kind went the way of the Dodo bird. Goldman's strength is in buying and placing politicians, narrowing market participants, and collecting welfare checks while purporting to be a capitalist enterprise.
Oh, and conceding to a $500 million fine (chump change considering the monstrous thievery ) is evidence of "cheating". Did not Goldman tell everyone they would "vigorously defend their (valuable) reputation" ?
Now rest that big brain of yours and look up non sequitur. Your arguments are based on false premises, tautological invective and are glued together with non sequiturs.
hey, i've seen those $500,000 threshers and all that other big fancy cat stuff, air conditioned, stereos, makes an escalade look like a toy.
So it's as i figured, you're only against subsidies given to the other guy, you're the first pig at the trough yourself, and don't see any problem with that.
hypocrite.
Buggy boy
Too bad your big brain is in such a small sized container.
One minute you are disparaging physical work vs. your "special purpose" intellectual work.
Then you switch intellectual horses and argue about $500,000 threshers (almost all of these operate from a GPS controlled operator cab), making them capital intensive not labor intensive. Perhaps these guys are a little smarter than you.
So you go on figuring, big brain and all. I don't receive subsidies. Except, of course, the public highway subsidy.
Why would "smart people" from Goldman (your ilk) need subsidies ?? It is because they, like you are intellectually lazy, and cannot form a complete and cogent thought or argument.
For Goldman the highest return, always, is buying a politician.
Pigs, sir, are your betters.